it is, they wanted me because I know guns,” Gina said. “The commando guy looked like serious business.”
Right. The way Nick Tarasov had stood there— hair in a severe military cut, his bluish-gray eyes sharply focused—he looked as cold and hard as the floor-to-ceiling metal bars at the end of the cell block. Seemed about as unmovable, too. He hadn’t said a single word the whole time.
“They want us because we know about guns, money, computers and breaking and entering.” Gina looked at them. “My guess is some kind of spying.”
“Don’t they have trained spies? Like people who do that kind of stuff for a living?” Carly asked, but a little thrill ran through her. Her only solace for the past couple of years had been watching Alias in the rec room. What would it feel like to be part of something like that?
“We’re disposable.” Samantha shrugged.
The carelessly offered comment gave them all something to think about.
Anita stood to walk around the other women, her movements too graceful to be called pacing. Her black braid that reached to her waist swung a little with each long step. She carried herself like a competitive dancer. “Mission Impossible.”
Was she considering it? Carly watched her. Why on earth would she?
“More like Charlie’s freakin’ Angels,” Samantha said deadpan and rubbed her left earlobe that had more holes than beta-version software did. “I’m in. But don’t expect me to start flipping my hair and wearing a bikini.”
Carly ran her teeth over her lower lip. The thought of staying in prison for another four long years seemed intolerable now that the possibility of freedom had been waved in front of her. Whatever she had to face, it couldn’t be worse than this, the slow wasting of her life day after day, month after month. She could swear she felt brain cells pop one by one as they died from atrophy. She craved challenge. Outsmarting the government would definitely provide one. She would go along with their game while she figured out how to get away from them. No way would anyone ever bring her back here.
“I want to do it,” she said.
Gina stopped tapping and drew air in through her nose. “What the hell.”
Anita sat down and folded her hands in her lap. She said nothing as the women all watched her.
Disappointment squeezed Carly’s throat, but she understood where Anita stood. If she had only a few weeks to go, she wouldn’t be jumping off a cliff blindfolded either.
“They would erase our records. He definitely said that, right?” Anita swallowed.
Gina nodded.
“Yes,” Carly said. Did she sound too eager, too desperate?
“We could get hurt. Or die. We have no idea what this is about. I don’t like the way they made it sound. Whatever they want from us might be worse than being in here.” Anita stood again.
What could be worse than four more years locked in a cell? Carly clenched her teeth. Anita wasn’t going for it. She tried to shrug off the disappointment, but couldn’t. Amazing how much hope a person could build up in five minutes.
Nobody ever got an offer like this. Nobody would even believe it, not that they would ever be able to tell anyone. Freedom, she breathed in the idea one last time, letting it fill her lungs. A nice fantasy while it had lasted.
But Anita said, “We might all regret this,” as she drew her spine straight. “Okay.”
Okay?
Startled confusion came first, then the puzzle solver in Carly’s mind zeroed in on the softly spoken decision. Why?
“Aren’t you full of surprises?” Gina said.
“I have my own reasons.” Anita squared her slim shoulders.
Carly waited for further explanation, but none was forthcoming. Anita wouldn’t meet anyone’s eyes.
So she had secrets.
Carly took in the others. They probably all did. And they had all agreed.
Oh, God. They were doing it!
Maybe she should have been scared, but at this moment, excitement trumped everything. She felt her face split into a grin. Free. She let her eyes drift closed. She had a lot to catch up with.
“We’re getting out.” Her head spinning with possibilities, she looked again at the others.
That cooled her a little.
Gina’s face was grim, the set of her mouth determined. Anita stared straight ahead. Samantha had the same what-do-I-care? expression she’d stuck to throughout, but Carly thought she could see a trace of uncertainty and fear in her eyes. None of them said a word for a couple of seconds.
“It’s a chance to start over,” she told them, but some of her excitement was fading as bits and pieces of conversation floated back from the past twenty minutes, fully registering at last. Suicide mission and we’re disposable were definite buzz killers. She wouldn’t let things go that far. She would find a way to skip before the mission got out of hand.
She’d done more time, as it was, than any other hacker before or since her. And she had done no harm. She hadn’t been interested in any data, hadn’t stolen or damaged anything. She’d just looked at code, wanting to learn, searching for shortcuts, unique fixes and unusual solutions. She had paid for them dearly.
“Hey, we could have our own secret club. The Second Chance Chicks.” Samantha’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “Or The Dirty Four. Maybe we’ll be in a movie someday.”
They’d never make a team. They were too different. Carly certainly was. She’d given up a long time ago on fitting in anywhere. And with this group, she didn’t want to fit.
Gina “the killer” Torno was giving Sam a dark look. “Don’t get too excited, kid. If they’ll ever make a movie about us, they’ll be calling it The Doomed and the Desperate.”
Not her, Carly thought, as she began to plan.
TSERNYAKOV CLOSED THE FOLDER on his computer and glanced out his office window that overlooked the factory yard, breathed in the sweet-musty smell of sugar beets being processed. Some people didn’t care for the permeating odor, much like broccoli cooking, but for him, it was the scent of his childhood.
Peter was late. Had he run? If he had, he would be found.
He glanced at the display of his phone when it rang, smiled at the familiar number and took the call. “How are you, Mother? What did the doctor say?”
“I was just thinking about you. What a good, good son you are. I’ll have to have more tests. I can just go in, no need to stay at the hospital.”
“Are you sure you want to stay here? I could have someone take you to Switzerland. They have better facilities.”
“This is where my strength is, in my country and in you. What would I do in Switzerland? I couldn’t
